A teenage student who helped rescue the life of an elderly man who fell, injured on the ground, has been praised.

Ella Payne, 17, from Buckhurst Hill, was walking during her lunchbreak near to Debden Broadway, when she saw the 74-year-old man lying on the ground.

The student at the Epping Forest campus of New City College rushed to help the man and spotted that his ring had cut into and injured his finger, while also injuring himself from the fall.

She used her First Aid training which she learnt at the college to help the man and took him to a café while holding his hands up in the air as they waited for his wife and an ambulance to arrive.

Miss Payne said: “He was quite shaken up and confused. He’d knocked some teeth out and was upset, so I wanted to make sure he was alright.”

Mitus Castillo, who taught Miss Payne the First Aid skills, said: “We were so proud of Ella. For her to help a stranger and have the confidence to give First Aid treatment, is amazing.

"It was even more amazing to hear her say that she used what she had learned at the college’s First Aid course.”